Nicholas Piramal Buys UK Plant From Pfizer

By RAJESH MAHAPATRA

NEW DELHI – A leading Indian pharmaceutical company, Nicholas Piramal Ltd., said Thursday it has struck a deal to acquire one of Pfizer Inc.’s plants in Britain.

Nicholas Piramal said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange that the acquisition of the Pfizer facility at Morpeth in northeastern England should boost revenues by $350 million over the next five years.

The notice didn’t disclose how much Nicholas Piramal was paying for the facility. The transaction is expected to be completed by this weekend, the company said.

The deal includes a supply agreement with Pfizer, which will continue to buy drugs from the Morpeth plant until 2011. News of the deal lifted Nicholas Piramal shares 6.5 percent to 168.10 rupees.

The agreement is the latest in a string of overseas acquisitions by top Indian companies, which are trying to increase global visibility after thriving for decades on domestic sales and government protection.

Pharmaceutical companies have been most active in the Indian hunt for overseas acquisitions.

Earlier this year, Ranbaxy Laboratories, India’s biggest drug maker, bought three companies in Europe, including GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s generic business in Italy and Romania’s Terapia, while its rival Dr Reddy’s acquired German drug maker Betapharm.

The Morpeth deal is the third acquisition for Nicholas Piramal in England. In 2004, the company acquired the inhalation anesthetics business of the Rhodia group and last December, it bought Avecia Pharmaceuticals.

“It’s great deal because there are not many companies in India with whom a company like Pfizer will join hands,” Nicholas Piramal’s President Harinder Sikka said in an interview with the NDTV television station.

The plant, set up in the 1960s, manufactures drugs for pain control, arthritis and ulcer prevention, according Pfizer’s Web site.

The Morpeth acquisition will make Nicholas Piramal Pfizer’s largest contract manufacturer in the world, the company said.